Education

Accuse govt of insensitivity as FG begs ASUU
BENIN CITY—ECONOMIC activities ground to a halt for over one hour in Benin City, Tuesday, as a coalition of civil society organisations and students protested against the attitude of the Federal Government to the strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.

The protest came as President Goodluck Jonathan appealed to the leadership of ASUU to call off the strike.

The placard-carrying groups, including Concerned Nigerian Students, Coalition of Edo Youths Organisation, Edo Youth Congress, Edo State Students, Comrade Across the Nation, South-South Youth League and Edo Youth for Good Government, described the Federal Government’s seeming refusal to meet the demands of ASUU as wicked and expressed support for ASUU.

File photo: students protesting ASUU strike in Lagos

The protesters, who brandished placards, some of which read, “we are Nigerian undergraduates unemployed,” “Education is a right,” “Federal Government answer ASUU,” said the present impasse in FG/ASUU talk breakdown should be blamed on government.

Former ASUU chairman, University of Benin chapter, Dr Kashetu Ilavbare, who was sighted around the protesters, said the presence of some of ASUU members was to guide the protesters to prevent them from taking laws into their hands.

A contingent of policemen from the Edo State Police Command was observed at strategic points and this was to ensure that the protest was not hijacked by hoodlums.

Ilavbare said: “We don’t have anything to do with them, but we got information they were on the road, so we came to guide them, so that they will not destroy; to make it peaceful.

“You can see they are rational people. There is need for infrastructure both in the schools and outside, so that is why we are trying to ensure they don’t go on the rampage.”

The protesters in a statement read by Omobude Agho, called on patriotic Nigerians to support the action and enlighten parents and others on why they were agitating.

The statement read in part: “Investigations have shown that the issues at stake are far and above the demand for higher wages. ASUU went on strike because the Federal Government has failed to honour the agreement that it entered into with ASUU in 2009.

“This agreement provided for government funding of quality higher education for Nigerians. Provision of teaching and learning facilities, laboratory equipment for science students and research grants, payment of earned allowances, retirement age and progressive increase in annual budgetary allocation to the educational sector of 26 per cent, which is the UN standard.”

Meanwhile, President Jonathan has called on the leadership of ASUU to call off the on-going strike embarked by the union.

The President made the appeal in a message delivered on his behalf by the Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i, at the commissioning of projects at the Federal University of Technology Owerri, FUTO.

The President said: “There is no justification for the strike as government as shown enough commitment to the cause of tertiary education in Nigeria. I appeal to ASUU leadership to call off the strike as keeping the students at home is not in the best interest of the nation.

“No government in the world can release the amount of money ASUU leadership is asking for in one installment.”

He, however, reiterated government’s commitment to enhance the quality of university education in the country.

The President further disclosed that government had released N100 billion for infrastructural development in the nation’s universities and another N30 billion as earned allowances for the academic staff.

He expressed delight for the completion of the projects, adding that they were coming at a time some other institutions were crying for improvement in infrastructure.

President Jonatha added: “I would like to assure Nigerians that more funds would be released periodically for infrastructural development in schools. I am optimistic that ASUU will soon call off the strike.”

Vice Chancellor of FUTO, Professor Chigozie Asiabaka, recalled that one monumental challenge that confronted his administration when he came on board was the acute problem of infrastructural under-development of the university.

Asiabaka said: “At that period, the university was faced with untold and obvious dearth of classrooms, lecture theatres, power supply, student hostels, office accommodation, library space and facilities, unfriendly environment and unwholesome landscape.”

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Here is the latest news on ASUU Strike; the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities explains why the strike must continue. This is coming after the declaration that ASUU was pulling out of negotiations with FG giving reasons for doing that in an interview on TVC.

The latest ASUU Strike news is that ASUU’s President, Dr Nasir Issa Fagge has described the much advertised government’s intervention in the current impasse as one full of deceit and lacking in integrity.

Read the full details of the latest ASUU Strike Update as reported by GuardianNigeria:

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Thursday came a declaration: No calling off of the current strike until all demands are met.

At a briefing in Lagos, ASUU’s President, Dr Nasir Issa Fagge described the much advertised government’s intervention in the current impasse as full of deceit and lacking in integrity.

Besides, Fagge insisted that the period of negotiation was over with the signing of the agreement between the Federal Government and the union in 2009, stressing that government should rather move towards implementing the agreement.

Fagge explained that the government team, at the latest meeting between the two parties held last Monday in Abuja, spoke with a tinge of finality and declaring its unpreparedness to implement the agreed massive injection of funds to revitalise public universities.

The ASUU president also expressed shock at the government’s declaration that it would not pay university academics their earned allowances which, he stated, had accumulated from 2009 to 2013 but would rather propagate the provision of N30 billion to assist various Governing Councils of Federal Universities to defray the arrears of N92 billion owed to all categories of staff in the university system.

For those clamouring that ASUU should soft pedal on the negotiation, Issa-Fagge argued that they had, so far met with government 10 times since the action commenced on July 2, 2013.

He said: “ASUU was shocked at the level of deceit, dishonesty and lack of integrity displayed by government. Here was a government that has been propping on the union at least since the release of the MoU in January 2012. Never in the history of ASUU-Government relations have we, as a union, ever experienced the kind of volte-faced exhibited by government.”

Fagge disclosed that the Secretary of the Federation ridiculed the agreement, the MOU and the Needs Assessment Report, mocking the Minister of Education to “go and give them N400 billion, at which point, members of the government team scornfully laughed.”

According to him, the meeting was highly bewildering, embarrassing and highly unacceptable.

“ASUU cannot believe that the agreement, MOU and the Needs Assessment Report, undertaken and endorsed by the highest public officials in the land would be so blatantly ridiculed by the same people,” he said.

Fagge, who vowed that the union would never shift its ground on the agreement, also affirmed: “At this point, we can’t be talking about shifting ground because we shifted grounds in 2009. In 2006, ASUU presented demands and government also presented demands and we succeeded in reducing the demands through an agreement reached in 2009, after three years of negotiation. At this point, we are not talking about negotiation but implementation of agreement duly signed by both parties.”

Fagge hinted that the Union may opt out of the Suswam-led committee, based on principles, as the committee “lacks the will to effectively resolve the crisis.”

Besides, he maintained that ASUU would not be corrupted. “Chaos has become the order of the day,” he averred, “and our goal is to ensure that orderliness emerges at the end of this.

It is a shame that the government is talking about pace when we continue to churn out graduates of English who can hardly write English language or medical doctors who have not been exposed to manikins and are expected to perform surgeries. The major aim of our struggle is to see that change is effected in this country.”

The issues involved in the current industrial dispute include: Funding requirements for revitalising the Nigerian universities; Federal Government Assistance to State Universities; Progressive increase of annual budgetary allocation to education to 26 per cent between 2009 and 2020, and Earned Allowances.

Others are: Amendment of the pension/retirement age of academics on the professorial cadre from 65 to 70 years, Establishment of the Pension Fund Administrator, Governing Council; Transfer of Federal Government landed properties to universities as the setting up of research and development units by companies operating in Nigeria as well as teaching and research equipment.

We hope they find a solution to this crisis soon because even students are tired of staying at home. We will continue to bring you ASUU Latest News and Updates. All you have to do is stay with us by subscribing to our updates.

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The Niger Delta University (NDU) 2013/2014 Post-UTME Result has been released by the management of the University. The released Niger Delta Varsity Post-UTME Result is that of the screening exercise held… Candidates who participated in the screening now go online to the official website of NDU to check their Post-UTME results.

HOW TO CHECK THE 2013/2014 NIGER DELTA UNIVERSITY POST-UTME RESULT

Go to the NDU Post-UME result-checking portal using the following link: http://www.ndu.ac/

Now Click on the link which reads “1st Choice APPTITUDE TEST RESULTS HAVE BEEN RELEASED” at the top of the page

Enter your JAMB Registration Number into the space provided on the popup dialogue box,

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You can now check the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) 2013/2014 Merit (First Batch) Admission list online. This message is going to all first choice candidates of the 2013/2014 Uniport Post-UTME Screening as they can now check their admission list on the first batch admission list released by the University of Port Harcourt.

Congratulations to all candidates offered provisional admission by the University of Port Harcourt for the 2013/2014 by virtue of participating in the Post-UTME Screening and their names appearing on the released UNIPORT Admission List.

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The 2013/2014 Bowen University Pre-degree Admission list has been released by the University and we hereby inform candidates who are expecting this admission list to go online to Bowen University website to check their Pre-degree admission status.

Bowen University PDS Candidates are requested to collect their Admission Letters, Schedule of Fees and other relevant documents from the Registry (Academic Office) of the University and proceed to the Bursary for payment of acceptance fee.

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The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has condemned the extravagance exhibited by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s wife, Patience, during a recent rally for women in Abuja.
NANS has thereby asked the Nigerian government to reveal the amount spent on such frivolity taking into consideration the crisis in the education sector, which has culminated in an industrial action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) which has entered it’s seventh week.

In a statement issued by the students’ body on Tuesday, it urged the government to declare a state of emergency in the education sector, adding that all well-meaning Nigerians should frown on such ‘wasteful spending’ as the ASUU strike has forced the students to be at home for over six weeks following the government’s inability to honour its agreement with the university teachers.

The statement signed by NANS National Financial Secretary, Ayenuro Timilehin, states, “It is saddening that the office of the first lady would organise such a kangaroo rally and force motorists plying routes leading to Eagle Square in Abuja venue of the event to be subjected to untold hardship because of many barricaded alternatives.

“Frustrated motorists were forced to take any available space, thereby leading to a chaotic traffic snarl for the most part of that day.”
Timilehin decried the rally tagged: ‘Nigerian Women Rally for Peace and Empowerment’, saying it was not beneficial to Nigerians, especially with the stance of the government that lack of funds was responsible for its inability to meet the demands of ASUU.
He said the money spent on the rally should have been channelled towards the education sector, adding that the student body would not rest until the government does the right thing especially in the education sector.

Motorists as well as commuters were subjected to untold hardship in Abuja, as the rally organised by the Office of First Lady in collaboration with the National Council of Women Societies (NCWS) on August 15 paralysed Abuja.

Despite the fact that the rally that was attended by women from the 36 states of the federation was unannounced, security operatives barricaded all the routes leading to the Eagle Square, venue of the rally, thereby forcing residents of the city to have a hard time getting to their various destinations.

The 2013/2014 ABUAD Post-UTME Application forms can be purchased from any of the designated selling points on or before the screening date by following this procedure:
1.Pay N7,500 into any of the designated banks
2.Show evidence of payment (Original payment teller) at any of the designated selling points to collect the application form.
3.Original payment teller and completed application forms are to be submitted on the day of screening at the screening centres.

CHANGE OF INSTITUTION:

If you did not choose Afe Babalola University on the UTME Form, you must purchase a change of institution form by paying N2,000 into any of the designated banks. Collect a separate teller for the change of institution form.

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The University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) has released the result of Nursing Entrance Examination for 2013. Candidates who took part in the entrance examination can now check their results online. The UNIBEN Teaching Hospital 2013 Nursing exam result is grouped into male and female categories.

They have been uploaded at the UBTH website in PDF format and you can download them to any device that supports PDF to read the entrance exam results. These two lists in male and female categories are called the Male Merit Order and Female Merit Order lists respectively.

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ASUU has pulled out of negotiations with FG starting Thursday, 22nd August, 2013 – This is the sad Update on the 2013 ASUU Strike coming this evening. The Academic Staff Union of Universities has decided to pull out of negotiation with the Federal Government. If you think the ongoing ASUU strike will come to an end soon, then you should have a rethink. It’s not coming to an end anytime soon.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities on Thursday announced its disengagement from further negotiations with the Federal Government, over what it describes as the latter’s perceived insincerity in the 2009 agreement as well as the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) both parties signed in January last year.

The union National President, Dr. Nassir Faggae Isa, said at a press briefing held at the University of Lagos on Thursday that the 2009 agreement and the MoU must first be honoured, even if ASUU feels the need to consider renegotiation with the government.
The union had embarked on a total strike on July 2 over government‘s failure to honour the 2009 agreement.

Faggae said, “Consequently, our members are left with no other choice than to prosecute this strike to its logical conclusion. ASUU members nationwide are saying this striker will not be suspended until and unless the government respects the 2009 agreement and makes concrete efforts to implement it in the best interest of the country.”

According to him, during a meeting held between ASUU and the government representative on Monday, government declared that it neither had any motive to revitalize public universities through committed funding, nor was it ready to pay in full the accumulated Earned Academic Allowances between 2009 and 2013.

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The federal government has granted the University of Ibadan and Obafemi Awolowo University approval to award degree certificates in traditional medicine practice.

The National Association of Nigerian Traditional Medicine Practitioners (NANTMP) National President, Omon Oleabhiele, confirmed the unprecedented development in the Edo State.

He said the Federal Ministry of Health had already inaugurated the body that will draw the curriculum for the syllabus in Abuja.

Following the approval granted University of Ibadan and Obafemi Alowo Universities, NANTMP is confident more institutions in the country would soon get certification to award degrees in traditional medicine practice.

Subsequently, Oleabhiele called for the immediate establishment of traditional medicine hospitals to complement orthodox medical hospitals, with patients having the right of choice for their treatment method.

The approval to grant such degrees follows decades of traditionalists lobbying government for the formal recognition and acceptance of traditional medicine.